Da Niu and Da Bai bit into empty air, staring blankly at the bare branch in front of them.
Immediately, its nose twitched, and with a whoosh, it climbed down the tree, then scrambled up the tree where the old man was standing.
"Oh my, the venison slices are just the right thickness, any thicker or thinner, and they're roasted to perfection. One bite and my old teeth feel like they're bouncing off." The old man in the chicken coop lightly stepped on the tree branch, not even giving the two tigers a glance, and devoured a large slice of roasted meat in one bite, nodding repeatedly as he ate.
"This snake meat is roasted to a perfect crisp on the outside and tender on the inside, with absolutely no cold or fishy smell. It's bursting with meaty flavor. Not bad at all! You little kids may look young, but your grilling skills are far superior to that brat's. However, I like chives, so remember to add some chives when you grill the skewers later. It will definitely taste even better..."
The three little radish boys, Su Dalang, were stunned.
He was initially beaming with joy at the compliments, but when he saw that dozens of skewers of grilled meat were about to be devoured, all his happiness vanished, and tears welled up in his eyes along with his drool.
"Waaaaah, meat! My aunt's meat!"
"This is our aunt's meat! Give it back to us right now, and don't eat it anymore!"
"That's right! This is our aunt's meat. No matter how much you praise it, it's still our aunt's meat. We spent ages roasting it, and before it was even cooked, our aunt hadn't even had a chance to take a bite, and you just snatched it away! Even the bandits in the mountains aren't as domineering as you..."
Su Hua, who was full of questions, twitched at the corner of her mouth when she heard what the three of them said.
She thought she had misheard in the kitchen, but then she realized, what does "her meat" mean?
If you didn't know better, you'd think they were roasting her!
Seeing that the children were all safe and sound, Zhao breathed a sigh of relief. She then turned her gaze to the old man in the chicken coop who was engrossed in drying meat. "Hua'er, this old man looks unfamiliar. He doesn't seem to be from around here."
Su Hua shook her head slightly; she couldn't quite figure out the old man's methods either.
If it's just a simple case of craving something sweet, that's easy to handle; they'll leave once they're full.
The thought had barely formed when he saw the old man in the chicken coop roll up his sleeve and wipe his mouth. Then, he stared intently towards the kitchen. "Hey, what's that stewing in there? It smells so good, but not greasy at all. It looks like chicken, and there's also the aroma of red dates. Why is the chicken soup I usually eat never this fragrant?"
Before he finished speaking, he had already darted towards the kitchen like a hawk.
In the blink of an eye, it landed at the kitchen window.
They bumped right into Qian, who was craning her neck to look outside.
"Ahhh! A ghost! A ghost!!" Qian's phoenix eyes narrowed, and the soup bowl in her hand fell to the ground with a clatter, spilling meat and soup all over the floor.
"Ghost? Where's the ghost?" The old man in the chicken coop glanced at her with a puzzled look.
His eyes lit up when he saw the golden pieces of chicken and snake on the ground. "This chicken and snake stewed together smells so good! And this old ginseng root must be at least thirty years old. Wow, your family really knows how to eat! No wonder the aroma is so tempting!"
Having said that, he hurriedly raised his hand towards Madam Qian.
"Young lady, hurry, serve this old man a bowl too, so he can have a taste!"
Qian's ears perked up slightly.
But he just lowered his head, neither saying yes nor no.
While she was in the kitchen, she smelled the rich aroma of the soup in the pot and thought she should taste it first while everyone was away. But when she saw the plump white ginseng in the pot, her hands almost wouldn't obey her. However, she knew her mother-in-law's stingy nature all too well.
In the end, I had no choice but to secretly pluck two ginseng roots from the ginseng.
But before she could even take a bite, she was so frightened by the old man that she knocked him to the ground.
Now he wants her to serve him soup? Isn't that just wishful thinking? She just hopes that this old man will make a big scene, so that when Su Bai comes back, she won't be able to spare the attention to argue with her about the ginseng.
The three siblings ran into the kitchen and overheard the old man in the chicken coop talking. In the next instant, they held hands and gathered around the big pot with remarkable tacit understanding.
"This is the snake soup with dragon and phoenix flavor that my aunt and Uncle Yu risked their lives to get from the mountain. They haven't even had a sip yet, so I can't give it to you!"
"Yes, this belongs to our aunt, you can't take it."
The aunt had already asked the old man to grill the meat skewers for them. If the Dragon and Phoenix Soup on the stove is also taken away, how can they face their aunt?
Zhao picked up the ginseng rootlets from the ground with a pained expression and carefully patted the dirt off them. "Hua'er, is this ginseng rootlet really as he said, thirty years old?"
In the five years since she married into the Su family, she often heard her mother-in-law talk about how the old village chief had once dug up small ginseng on the mountain.
That little ginseng was no bigger than half a finger, at most four or five years old, yet it sold for a full ten taels of silver at the Cangwu Town pharmacy. If Hua'er had taken a thirty-year-old ginseng to make soup, wouldn't every sip of soup they drank be pure silver?
Su Hua nodded slightly.
The look in his eyes turned to surprise and doubt. This man not only possessed superb martial arts skills, but now, he could guess the age of a ginseng root with remarkable accuracy just by looking at a single ginseng root.
Even professional herb gatherers probably don't have this ability.
Who exactly is he?
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